Frats at Penn: questions

Keasbey_Nights
Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:40:25 +0000

While searching CC, I heard that a surprising amount of the frats do alot of hard drugs(not pot or alcohol) Is this really true? If this is true is it easy to tell which frats are involved with the hard drugs during open rush? I really don’t want any part in that kind of stuff.



I’ve been offered to do cocaine at an unnamed house. (Of course, I declined.) I’ve heard of other houses that do coke, too. But I mean…you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. It’s easy to say no.

In a similar vein, you’ll probably be offered ecstasy. Again, it’s easy to say no.

Don’t kid yourself. These are things that happen at literally every non-denominational college (and many religious colleges, too). Penn is not immune. However, it’s very easy to be a part of the Greek scene without being a part of the drug scene.



My second question was if engineering majors have enough free time to rush and still live a relatively normal college life. I am really interested in joining a fraternity but my academics need to take precedence.



The Penn mentality is very “work hard, play hard,” a phrase you’ll hear a LOT over the next year or so. Even the fraternities understand that you have schoolwork. You’ll have time to pledge and be in a fraternity.



My third and final question was about the selectivity of the fraternities at Penn. Are most people able to get into their frat of choice or is it a competitive process?



Because Penn has deferred rush for freshmen (freshmen aren’t allowed to pledge until the spring), the rush process is a bit different here than at most other schools. Allow me to explain.

When you first come to campus, just about every fraternity will be holding “open” parties during NSO (New Student Orientation). I use the word “open” in quotation marks because you’re not going to be allowed into the party unless you’re with a group of girls or if you know somebody in the house.

At first, the people you know might be students who went to your high school, friends of friends, etc. The only two kids I knew in Penn fraternities at the beginning of the year were a summer camp friend and a friend whom I’d met at Penn Preview.

During the first half of the semester, a lot of houses will be continuing this “open” party sort of thing. These “open” parties are your chances to get to know the brothers. They’re looking for freshmen that they can imagine living with and being brothers with. Basically, don’t be weird or awkward. The brothers will get your number and start inviting you over to house events.

Around the halfway point of the semester, houses are going to stop holding these open parties. Instead, they’re going to be having “dirty rush” events, in which the brothers you’ve gotten to know throughout the semester will explicitly invite you to. Nobody else will be allowed in, even if they’re with girls or if they know people in the house. This is essentially the brothers of the house trying to convince you to pledge at the house before rush actually starts.

During the first week of the spring semester, every house will have actual open rush events for two or three days. Any guy can go in, eat food, and socialize with the brothers. This is a chance for the brothers to meet and consider anybody else they haven’t seen during the fall semester for whatever reason.

After this, they hold closed rush events and then give bids to the kids they want in their fraternity as pledges.

Is it hard to join? No, as long as you can hold a conversation and network well. Even if you don’t get dirty rushed, I’m sure it’s not that hard to join a house. It’s just important to remember two things:


Penn has a very large “old boys network.” A lot of students know each other due to high school and summer camp and that sort of thing. In that regard, brothers at fraternities are always going to have the freshmen that they really want. You might have to work harder to break into that.
During NSO…grab a group of girls before going out. The standard ratio is two girls per guy.